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Avalanches and sherpas

I bet you never thought about avalanches in the city! I sure never did but as we walked around Graz on Day 3, we passed numerous potential avalanches. Lucky for us, most of the snow season appears to be over!

warning for avalanche

In case you can’t read it, here it is close up!

We are getting somewhere on figuring out the washing machine/dryer and the dishwasher. But only as far as maybe what kind of soap we need. Today, after doing at least 2 hours on-line research on where it was and how to get there, we headed across town, taking the street car first and then a city bus, to, of all things, a shopping mall where there was a big store that had groceries, and the possibility of household items as well. On the list: washing machine powder, dishwasher soap, a small clothes basket, clothespins and rope (because we hear that the dryer on these machines doesn’t really dry all that well) something to clean the bathroom and counters, a squeegie, a small rug for the foyer to trap all the mud we are tracking in, mustard, vegetables, fruit, and bread. We ended up with most everything (substituting a drying rack for the clothesline) except the squeegie and the mustard. I even went back again to look for the mustard. What do they put on their bratwurst if not mustard????

So you buy your stuff that is in your cart, unloading it onto the conveyer belt, then you load it back into your cart (for which you have paid 1 Euro deposit), and wheel your cart out of the store into the mall and continue to shop, or in our case, find somewhere to eat.

There are smaller grocery stores–one down the hill from us (think ‘Grizzly Grocery’ for you Missoulians), and another closer to the University–but this by far was the biggest we’d seen. Not that bigger is better, but in our case, it had most of what we needed.

Then it was back to the bus, transfer to the streetcar

And back up the hill carrying all our stuff. That’s where the sherpas come in, only there were none to be found!

Tomorrow, we may make a trip to the Hauptbahnhof to see how long it will take us early Monday morning when we go to Vienna for the Fulbright meeting, or head down to the Schloss (castle), or take a hike around the woods with our binoculars.

9 thoughts on “Avalanches and sherpas”

Yeah, love traveling with you….about the washer/dryer unit…this is what I can tell you: it takes awhile for the process…also not a lot of soap needed….you may think your clothes are still wet when you pull them out but they are actually just full of hot good steam and will dry out shortly HOWEVER, in order for that to happen, you have to take them out, shake them, hang them on a chair or railing or door knob….in short order they are dry and relatively wrinkle free….Henningsens got one after being in New Zealand and wanting a unit on the main floor….we inherited it and have it at the cabin…..when it is going, it warms up the shower house quite nicely….Chris’s mom finally “marked” the dials so we could remember how to set both of them at once.
Good luck, I will have Chris add more on what he knows….he is the lake washer/dryer man.

That would be great, Mary Ellen. I can’t figure out what to push for what and when. What do you mean setting both of them at once?
I’ve been washing out socks and underwear by hand but we can’t do that indefinitely. Can we?

Jean and Bill, I finally had some luxurious time to just sit and read all that you have written. What a superbly written narrative along with the photos. From the for what it’s worth department, my maiden name is Schloss(er), but I think that it refers to a locksmith rather than castle. Is my fantasies, I like to choose the latter.
We are surviving the weather just fine. After all it is still winter in Montana and it can go on for a long long long long time. When Ruthie (and David) were babies, it snowed on the 4th of July!!!!!!!! I have a photo of Ruthie in her pink snowsuit and the flakes falling on her.
Jean you amaze me – writing thank you notes ‘moments’ before leaving Missoula. We really did have a lovely time enjoying you.
Ruthie and Rob are off to Argentina in 3 days for fly fishing. John and I marvel. At their stage, we were very poor and could not even afford to eat out!!! Blessings on all of our angels good fortune in these times.
Know that you are in my radar even when I don’t write. But what a fantastic idea to create this site for all of us to be in your loop. Thank you, dear friends, Carolyn

Aww, Carolyn, that’s sweet. I think you are in luck because key in German is Schlüssel. Or maybe it means the keyholder to a castle. Either way, good stuff! 🙂 I can’t even imagine fly fishing in Argentina! How did they ever come up with that? Pretty awesome.
I am still treasuring that brief afternoon of GH sandwiches and good company. Take care of yourself and do stay warm!

Dear Jean, I am reading a novel, THE JIDDISH POLICEMANS UNION, and they use the word ‘shlosser’ for a hit man. The book is an absolute scream and I can hardly put it down. If you run out of reading or things to do, you might want to get your belly laughs from reading this. The author, Michael Chabon, won a Pulitzer prize for a different book, so he is definitely worth reading……. at some time.

As you may suspect, I am in DESPERATE need of the photo of the 4 of us. But, I realize that there is washing and cleaning and shopping and climbing and cooking, with what you can find, to do, so I can wait a few minutes. Jean, PLEASE keep your priorities on track. I will survive.

R&R read about the trip in the Orvis fishing catalog. They will have guides to the different sites in Patagonia and possibly into Chili. What a life. My John did buy a one man fishing inflatable raft at the Trout Unlimited auction, so he is pleased that he can now fish alone anywhere he wants to go. And.. . it fits right into the trunk of our Prius. Fancy that.

This AM we are going through our materials for our trip to Turkey in May. We will be on a tour, led by a Lutheran minister, which will follow the travels of ST Paul. There will be many sight seeing opportunities and chances to see carpets and pottery being made and, of course, shopping. My brothers Slush and George are going with us, or us with them, so we will be able to share this experience with lots of the family. My vanity trumps all else and though I have been reading up on where we will be going, my wardrobe is my chief concern. Sigh. I love having to try things out and take things back to the store and try some more. My goal is to have 3 interchangeable colors and I am about there. We will be taking only carry ons so there will be no extras and I like this.

Continue with your narrative for all of us back in Msla. You are making it so interesting and I love the photos. oxoxoxoxox Carolyn